Speed Mentoring: A One-Time Focused Meeting or a Prelude to a Long-Term Relationship

In medical and health professions education, mentoring has mostly been viewed as a longitudinal relationship between a senior professional (the mentor) and a junior trainee or faculty (the mentee). Mentors may be formally assigned by institutions or informally sought by mentees. Though studies have suggested that mentoring relationships that evolve spontaneously may be more impactful (Jackson et al., 2003), trainees and junior faculty may find it challenging to initiate mentoring relationships (Cook et al., 2010). Moreover, a single mentor cannot address all the mentoring needs and provide all the advice that their mentees require, given the range of professional options that exist in the healthcare professions and spectrum of skills and expertise required.